1 in 4 parents hid their kids' COVID, study finds
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Lots of parents say they misled others when their kids tested positive for COVID-19, according to a nationwide report coauthored by University of Utah researchers.
By the numbers: 24% of parents surveyed in December 2021 admitted to not disclosing they knew or suspected their kids had COVID to people who were exposed, per the study, which appeared this week on JAMA Network Open.
- More than 1 in 5 parents said they let their kids break COVID quarantine rules and roughly the same number avoided getting their kids tested when they speculated they were infected.
- 1 in 10 said their children were vaccinated when they weren't.
The No. 1 reason parents gave for misleading others was "wanting to exercise personal freedom as a parent."
- Roughly half of those who hid a diagnosis said the child wasn't very sick, they wanted the child's life to feel "normal," and they didn't want to miss a fun activity.
- Just over one-third said they couldn't miss work to stay home with a sick child.
Why it matters: Failing to disclose a coronavirus diagnosis might have contributed to hospitalizations and deaths when infected kids interacted with others, said Angela Fagerlin, a study author and professor of Population Health Sciences at U of U Health.
- It could also prevent others at risk of serious illness from making informed decisions to keep themselves from getting infected, Salt Lake County Health executive director Angela Dunn told Axios.
- Not alerting contacts to exposures also may have led to more infections in healthy people, which is what "allowed the virus to mutate to evade our immunity and some of the vaccines we had," Dunn added.
Of note: The findings echo similar surveys of adults, which found nearly 1 in 4 told others they were taking more precautions than they actually were, while about 1 in 5 avoided testing when they thought they were infected.
Zoom in: Of parents who claimed their unvaccinated child was vaccinated, 60% said they wanted their kid to participate in an activity that required vaccines, and half said they were following guidance from a trusted public figure — such as a politician, celebrity or scientist.
- Meanwhile, the most common reason parents gave for avoiding testing was fear the test would hurt or be uncomfortable.
- COVID tests have come a long way since the deep nasal swabs early in the pandemic, Dunn noted, with most requiring only nostril swipes or a spit sample.
What they're saying: “We need to do a better job of providing support mechanisms like paid sick leave for family illness so that parents don’t feel like their only option is to engage in misrepresentation or non-adherence to public health guidelines,” said Andrea Gurmankin Levy, a social sciences professor at Middlesex Community College in Connecticut and the study's lead author.